panerai153

Go over to the WUS forum, they have a dedicated Longines forum. Someone over there can probably help you out

This one looks great!!! I'm sure the owner will be thrilled to have this one.

Still wearing the 6542

Where are you getting your reps pressure tested to 100 Atmos? Curious, as that would require a very serious tester, much more expensive than my little tester that will go to about 6-7 atmos max.

You are so right!!! Any "retired" watchmaker that was dealing in high end watches, knows what he has and what it's worth.He would be selling parts on VFR Marketplace, or some other watch forum.Also, I feel sure the vintage Rolex guys who have been in this game a long time know every watchmaker, retired, semiretired or working, who has/had a Rolex parts account, and those guys have long ago worked out deals to buy up surplus parts if and when they become available. Years ago, I collected vintage fountain pens. I was traveling a lot, and I went to every antique shop, flea market, in a three state area. I found a few really nice pens,but most were junk.Almost every one of the dealers told me that they had "a guy" who came around every couple of months and picked up all the pens the dealer had, paid cash, and took pretty much everything except broken throwaway pens,etc. The dealers weren't going to sell to me, because I would "cherry pick" the lot and only take the ones I was interested in. His guy took everything,every time. I'm pretty sure similar situations exist in the vintage watch world as well. This guy is scamming, and probably running the bids up with shill bidders.

Your DJ is beautiful. Got to give it to the old guy, he really,really knows his way around Rolex watches! And I can call him and old guy, because we are both old guys! He has built several really nice watches for me as well as sorting out some problems with a few others as well. Hats off to Matt.

This guy is pretty cagy too. Notice his disclaimer I'm not professional watch dealer, but just only an enthusiast watch collector, so I sell the items "as is", I refund only if the items are different from the pictures, please feel free to ask me any questions or more pics. Generally when you buy something that is sold as "original" that would mean it's genuine, and it is returnable if it proves not to be the real thing. There are so many scammers and con artists on eBay, I would not be inclined to buy any Rolex stuff unless I really trusted the seller. This one isn't one of them!!!

I agree with By-Tor, you have to have enough savy, which comes from experience and lots of research, to know which ones to buy. There are tons of genuine watches out there that you would be hard pressed to get 60% of the purchase price after 6 months. Others you could at least break even on, and then there are those that appreciate rather than depreciate. Not all of those are vintage Rolex either. Sometimes it happens with lesser known brands as well. Case in point, small watch company in Pennsylvania, MKII, came out with a limited edition homage to the Rolex 6538. Only 300 were made. Price new, less than 1K, price now, around 12-18 months later, one that has not been worn, still in plastic, around 2K, worn but not abused, around 1.8K. I doubt that anyone would have anticipated the popularity, but when you have a limited number, and demand, the price goes up. Personally, I enjoy my reps, I enjoy taking one to another level. When you spend a lot of time, researching, finding parts, getting one built, you have a connection to that watch, not like going to your local Mall jeweler and buying a new whatever.Not much different than going to the same Mall and buying a new suit, about the same amount of attachment. Having said that, if I were in a financial place to buy what I wanted, I would probably have only gens, not the Mall models, but sought out vintage watches that I could have a connection with.

I admire your tenacity and bravery!!! Probably not the easiest movement to start out on, but if you can put this one back together correctly and properly lubed, then everything else is going to be a downhill slide. Good luck with the build.

Seriously beautiful watch.

mine is a superdome. I don't particularly care for the high side walls of the service dome. I bump into enough stuff as it is, that high crystal would not do well with me!!!

Go up to Freddy333's post and click on the link.Takes you to phong's website, Jewelry&Watch

It looks very nice, I would try to find a set of 585 endlinks as they are the ones used on most 1665's. I also agree that the crystal is set too high. I have a T-39 on mine and it isn't set that high. Here is mine Side view of Crystal quick and dirty IPhone photo.

I believe that you did OK, very good research BTW. I'm sort of like cc33, I try my best to buy vintage parts from folks on the VRF, people there who have a history of selling genuine stuff. The problem is, as aftermarket gets better and better, it's going to get harder to distinguish the real McCoy from aftermarket. Not rep dealer stuff, but aftermarket sellers who are aiming for genuine Rolex owners who are not willing to pay the prices for genuine vintage parts. Obviously there is a big market out there, because the aftermarket sellers seem to be staying in business.

Same old 6542

Looks pretty nice! What dial is this? The white gold surrounds look a little thicker than gen, at least to my old eyes.

Almost every rep I own is a franken. Most have a bunch of gen parts, a couple are all gen except the case and movement. My old rule of thumb was to spend around 20% of the gen price. This has been knocked into a cocked hat the past couple of years, as vintage Rolex parts have gotten so expensive. For me, it's all about the journey. Planning a build, doing the research,finding the parts, working with one of our great modders to put together a watch that I can be proud of. Several of mine would have to be parted out to get most of my money back, but that's pretty much the norm after you get to a certain price level with reps. Personally, I would rather have a small watch box filled with nicely modded reps rather than a boatload of "factory fresh" unmodded watches.

Not a clue. That's about the strangest attachment method I've seen.

Sign me up for 2 brushed when you get more made. Thanks

Looks great Pete. If these will fix the DW alignment problem with my 1680, Sign me up for one. Even after putting on a gen dial, my 1680 Dw still is a little too left justified. When the date is on 10, you have to look at the Date window at and angle to see the one, straight on, it looks like a big 0 right in the middle of the Date window.

That's a very nice build. Well done. All you need now is a gen dial, and you would have an " ultimate" 16613.

Those are beautifully done. Just the ticket for a 1680 or 1665 project. Now, if you could just get those great 1680 cases, we would be in clover!!!

I agree, invest in a better one, you will be glad you did. Crappy tools make a job 10X as hard, and you end up buggering something up that ends up costing you more than the good tool would have!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

The Tritium pearl on the older inserts for 1680's, 1665's are smaller, or at least they appear to be. they also have a surround that is the same color as the pearl, which sort of blends in. the pearl on the more modern Sapphire subs is bigger with a metal surround. Here are a couple of comparison photos, all genuine 1680 1665 16610

Of all the genuine bracelets, the jubilee is going to be the cheapest. I made mine up, I already had a gen 62510H clasp that came on my gen 16750 (on a 78350 bracelet) Later on I bought a gen 78350 clasp for it. A few months back, I decided to try out a jubilee on my 6542. Went on VRF market and got a bracelet, complete with end links and springbars, less the clasp. I believe I paid around 200 USD for it, put it on the 62501H clasp and now it's on my 6542. Jubilees are super comfortable, especially the old ones with a little stretch. Go over to the Vintage Rolex forum and search Jubilee, They are up for sale there all the time.